Report on the “Development of Sea transport Protocol for the Trial Shipment for the

Export of Traditional Variety ‘Nendran’ to Dubai”

India is the largest producer of the banana with an annual production of 30 million tons in

an area of 0.8 million hectares. Though Cavendish bananas are ruling the banana export in the

world trade, traditional bananas like Nendran, Ney Poovan and Red Banana find the place in the

hyper malls especially in West Asia and South East Asia markets due to the settlement of ethnic

population from India. Nendran the commercial plantain variety in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and parts

of Karnataka occupies 50 % of the total area in these states and maximum quantity of the fruit is

sold locally. Presently the fruits are being exported through air cargo which incurs much higher

expenses and the scope for sustainability and profitability of the business is getting diminished.

Therefore to set a new voyage by sea to Dubai with its ‘Made in India’ farm fresh Nendran

Bananas, in a first of its kind attempt, ICAR-NRCB, Trichy and APEDA, New Delhi entered

into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a consultancy project “Development of Sea

Protocol for the Trial Sea Shipment of Traditional Nendran banana to Dubai” in

partnership with M/s. Fair Exports India Pvt Ltd., Kochi, on 20th

April 2017.

Experts Involved:

Dr. Mrs. S. Uma, Director & Convener

Dr. K.N. Shiva – Principal Scientist (PHT-Horticulture)

Dr. R. Thangavelu- Principal Scientist (Plant Pathology)

Dr. V. Kumar – Principal Scientist (Horticulture)

Dr. P. Suresh Kumar-Senior Scientist (PHT-Horticulture)

ICAR - National Research Centre for Banana, Thogamalai Road, Thayanur Post,

Tiruchirappalli - 620 102, Tamil Nadu, Ph (O): 0431-2618125;

E-mail: directornrcb@gmail.com

Rationale of the project:

With the high cost, the operational expenditure of exporting Nendran banana via sea

became very high. As the demand for traditional varieties are getting sky rocketing with the

introduction of good quality ethnic banans of India to even the consumers who normally buys the

Grand naine, a Cavendish banana, the need for exporting the bananas in huge volume is getting

increased. Development of the Sea protocol is pre-requisite to meet this increased demand.

Detailed objectives of the consultancy project:

To provide technical advice/guidance for trial shipment of ‘Nendran” banana for the

export to Dubai from Kochi Seaport by providing technical guidance in harvesting, post-harvest

handling operations, packing and cold storage.

18-01-2018

Duration of the project:

The project was initiated with the target of to be completed within five months from the

date of approval/issue. Accordingly, the project was initiated by the last week of April and

culminated with the supervision and survey in the Dubai market by the end of first week of

August 2017. With the time line framed, the project ended one month ahead of its schedule.

Programme of work and phasing of milestones:

Technical advice/Guidance/support for

- Visit and Identification of banana fields in Nendran growing belts based upon the crop

stand and suitable maturity [NRCB & APEDA/Exporter]

- Ascertain the yield estimate [NRCB & APEDA/Exporter]

- If sufficient quantity is available, plan for Harvesting and postharvest handling,

treatments, packing [NRCB & APEDA/Exporter], storage, transportation in refrigerated

van to Kochi seaport by road [APEDA/Exporter]

- Kochi port to Dubai by reefer container [NRCB/APEDA/Exporter]

- After reaching the destination port i.e. Dubai, inspect the each package for its damage,

decay, spoilage, any other defects/problems, etc. [APEDA/Exporter / NRCB]

- Recording the problems faced in the shipment [Exporter / NRCB]

The findings from the present consultancy work are listed in gist in this interim report.

Areas of the study:

The process of exporting quality Nendran banana to Dubai began with the identification

of suitable orchards for the selection of export quality bunches. The expert team visited the

Nendran fields in Valliyur (Nagarkovil), Cumbum (Theni), and Mettupalayam and

Sathymangalam (Coimbatore) in Tamil Nadu and Chamaraja Nagara in Karnataka. Good quality

bunches were available in all these places. The orchards in the Chamraj nagara were chosen for

the exports of bananas.

Criteria for the selection of orchard

Appearance of fruits must be fresh.

The peel colour must be green

Physiological loss in weight must be nil.

After ripening, the peel colour should be uniform yellow.

The finger should be free from spots

Pulp colour must be orange yellow

Pulp texture must be firm

Typical Nendran taste and flavour

Maturity indices:

For any market, the maturity index must consistently meet two requirements. It should

ensure:

Minimum acceptable eating quality

A long storage life

In a thump rule, for each one week bananas harvested earlier than normal harvest age, the

green life increases by 3-5 days. Therefore for the export market the hands of 80 – 85 % maturity

must be harvested. In other words, bunches are ready for harvesting, 80 days after initiation of

shooting. For local market generally, bunches are harvested 90 days after flowering.

Table 1: Expected time to reach bunch emergence and harvest.

Harvesting

Bananas were harvested by hand using a two-person team. One person cuts and the other

carried the bunch away. When cutting the bunch, a shallow cross cut was made with a cane knife

in the stem facing the bunch. The weight of the bunch caused the stem to bend. At this point the

bunch was then lowered onto the shoulder padding of the second person and the bunch stem was

cut.

Table 2: Difference between the harvested and matured Nendran banana .

Freshly harvested export fit Nendran

bananas

Mature Near ripe Nendran bananas

Fingers are square, lie close together, are

hard, green, clean, without insect infestation

Fingers are flabby, some turners (bananas which

are approaching being "ripe to eat") present

Fruit breaks with an audible snap when

broken in two

Fruit does not break with an audible snap when

broken in two

Pulp temperature no higher than the external

temperature

Pulp temperature higher than the external

temperature

The cutting test gives rise to mucilaginous

threads of juice 3 - 4 cm in length

The cutting test gives rise to no mucilaginous

threads of juice

Pulp (flesh of the fruit) = color of yellow

flour

Pulp = dark yellow with dark spots

Skin cannot be separated from pulp &

without brown spots under skin

Skin can be separated from pulp. Small brown

spots under skin

Care to be taken during harvesting

Harvesting should always start at one end of the field moving to the other & checking for

harvestable bunches.

Stage Plant crops

Planting to bunch emergence 6-9 months

Bunch emergence to harvest 3-4 months

Planting to harvest 10-13 months

Avoid latex stains on the bunches.

Minimize the damage during the movement of the plantains from point of harvesting to

the packing station.

Bunches should not be bruised while handling.

Bunches packed boxes should not be exposed to the sun or rain.

After dehanding, the bunches are to be placed on padded crates (bottom & side ). Foam

pads must be placed between each hand to protect it from rubbing.

Description of the Nendran Banana bunch

The banana spike is known as a bunch. A bunch is composed of a series of hands. The individual

fruits are called fingers. The following terminology is used in this report:

1 banana = 1 finger

5 - 6 fingers = 1 cluster

7 - 10 fingers = 1 hand

5 - 7 hands = 1 bunch (90 bananas)

Average weight of the

bunch

= 10-13 kg

Average weight of the

finger

= 140 g

Post-harvest handling, packing & storage

De-handing: De-handing site should be close to the end of the wash tank. The bunches arrived

should not be stacked on the ground. Cushioning pads could be made by using clean banana

leaves or foam sheets if the dehanding to be done in the field itself. Dehanding must be done

with a sharp chisel type dehanding tool, by leaving maximum crown attached to the hand. Crown

should be cut evenly, otherwise it’s outer finger may be detached. The knife must be very sharp

to give a clean, smooth cut in a single movement. The separated hands must be spread on a clean

surface to drain the latex for 10 minutes. After removal of latex, the fruits were packed in 20 kg

perforated plastic crates which were foamed in the bottom and sides to avoid the abrasion and

compression injury during transport. Foams were also in between hands to avoid the bruises

during the handling and transport. The handling persons should use hand gloves to avoid the nail

injury during de-handing, weighing and packing of the hands.

The crates loaded in the truck should be covered and it is preferable to transport the

bunched during evening to avoid the hands to the high temperature. Proper air circulation should

be provided to avoid the injury. Carefully packed trucks could be sent to pack house for carrying

out pre-cooling and other postharvest operations.

Washing: The boxes should be unloaded carefully and should not be exposed to sun or rain

after unloading to avoid the physiological loss in weight and possible infection by

microorganisms. Crown was removed after careful inspection if necessary before placing the

fruits in wash tank. As soon the hands are drained from latex they are placed in the wash tank to

remove the dirt & latex which exudes from the cut surface of the crown. There should be flow of

water through the tank to avoid accumulation of dirt & fungi spores, which may infect the crown

of hand. The hands were trimmed in to the cluster of fingers if necessary. All the damaged,

undesirable size and shape fruits were removed using knife.

Use of chlorine: The second tank was filled with water containing alum (hydrated potassium

aluminium sulfate with the formula KAl(SO4)2·12H 2O) (@1.0 gm / lit or sodium hypochlorite

(100 ppm) as the surfactant to remove the latex & destroy microorganisms. The clusters were

kept in this tank for 3-4 min for effective removal of dirts. Normally, the flow of the water

should be from the de-handing end of the tank, so that the hands of plantains move along to the

far end where workers select & grade them prior to fungicide application. Before keeping the

alum treated fruits in the third tank which contains fungicides, the fruit skin was gently rubbed

with foam having soap solution to remove the tough strains from the fruit skin and to give the

glossy appearance to the surface of the fruit. After rubbing with soap solution, clean water was

used to remove the soap before transferring them to the third tank.

Fungicide treatment*: The most effective postharvest control of crown rot is provided by

treatment with benzimidazole group of fungicides. Thibendazole is available in the form of

wettable powder & emulsifiable concentrates & benomyl as a wettable powder. Bavistin @ 1.5

g/lit for 3-5 minutes was used for arresting the fungal growth. *It is to be noted that fungicide application is made after the hands of fruit have been washed, but they

must first be drained of excess water. Especially when dipping is in small amounts of fungicide suspension,

otherwise water adhering to the skin of fruit may dilute the fungicide below its effective concentration.

Air Drying: Once the hands are removed from the third tank which has fungicides, the hands are

to be air dried by placing the hands in the cushioned drying tables through air drying. High

capacity fans should be mounted on the wall or at the top to provide air for the faster removal of

water from the skin. The hands should not be wiped by the foam or soft cloth in order to

facilitate the faster drying. The fungicides will be removed if the hands are dried by wiping the

moisture out from the produce. Natural air drying should be given to remove the moisture from

the skin.

Packaging: The air dried hands are weighed and packed in the 100 gauge polypropylene bags

which was lined in the 5 ply fiberboard boxes holding an average weight of 10.5 to 12 kg to

avoid the moisture loss. Roughly 6 hands per box was arranged to get the desirable weight. The

hands were packed in a regular pattern in the box in such a way that the hands of fruit did not

move & damage each other when the box is handled. Two pouches of KMnO4, an ethylene

absorbent were placed in opposite corner of the boxes to control the ethylene release and to

enhance the shelf life. The air was removed from the polyethylene bag using vacuum. The

polyethylene lining should be tightly adhered to the fruit skin without leaving any space to avoid

the air build up and water condensation during transit.

Pre-cooling/ cold storage: The packed boxes were stacked and loaded in the pre-cooling room

to bring down the temperature of the fruit. The RH of 85-90% with the temperature of 13.5ºC

was maintained in the room. Pulp thermometer, hygrometer, and room thermometer was mused

to check the temperature in the fruit and in the storage environment. Because many of the

containers refrigeration units are designed only to maintain cool temperatures, not for the rapid

removal of field heat the produce should reach the desirable temperature in the cold storage

itself. Stacking boxes of fruit in ships holds or containers must be done by ensuring of adequate

ventilation to all boxes..

Transport: The plantain boxes are directly loaded on to pallets at the pack houses & the pallets

were loaded on to refrigerated containers ( reefers), which are 20’ or 40’ insulated containers.

For the trial shipment 40’ insulated reefer container was used. The containers are transported by

sea to the Dubai port and then by road directly to the ripening chamber and cold storage room.

Fruits were shipped under refrigeration to prevent the initiation of ripening before they arrive at

their destination. Storage temperature 13ºC & Humidity 90-95 % was maintained during

Voyage.

Ripening: At destination port, depending upon the demand, the fruits were ripened by keeping

the boxes in the ripening chamber where the temperature was maintained around 25ºC &

Relative Humidity at 90-95 %. Ethylene gas was applied at 100-150 ppm for 24 hours. After 24

hours ventilation should be done to remove the ethylene from the ripening chamber. Once the

fruits were ripened uniformly, the treated fruits can be hold in the ventilated chamber at 13-14 ºC

temperature & 85 % RH to extend the yellow life of the fruits.

Feedback from the Consumer: The consignment received through the trial shipment has

received great attention from the consumer. Blemish free availability of Nendran enthused the

banana lover to buy more fruits even with the premium prices. Contrastingly, through this

venture, good quality fruits will be available to the consumer in affordable and cheaper rate in

the days ahead with the success of this APEDA sponsored, ICAR-NRCB technology supported

trial shipment.

Annexure I

Flow chart for the harvest & postharvest handling of Nendran Banana for the export

Harvesting (At 85-90% Maturity)

Bunch Transfer with Extreme Care

De-handing the bunches in the field

De-latexing the hands

Packing in foamed plastic crates

Bringing the boxes to the packhouse

Unloading, trimming the crown and making clusters of fingers

Tank 1: Immersing the clusters with Clean Water

Removal of crown, distorted fingers and dirts

Tank 2: Washing the hands in Alum

Washing with soap solution and dipping in clean water

Tank 3: Fungicide Treatment

Cluster/ Hand air Drying

Packing

Pre-cooling

Palletization in Cold Storage

Loading in reefer containers

Container Temp management & Transportation

Receiving in the destination port and cold storage

Ripening & Providing ventilation and bringing down the temperature for the storage

Displaying in the retail unit

Annexure - II

Requirements for Banana export (10 tons)

S.No Particulars Specification Quantity (nos)

1 Fibre tank 1000 lit rectangular 3

2 Slanting trays Aluminium trays of 5x1.5

ft

3

3 Pedestal fan High capacity 3

4 Weighing Balance 3

5 Plastic crates 58x39x31 cm 150

6 U type; 5 ply CFB boxes-bottom

3 ply- top

13-14 kg, 8% ventilation,

600 g bottom tare 450 g

top lid, folding telescope

carton

1000

7 Polythene bags 100 gauge, transparent 1500-2000

8 Foam sheets thick 6 mm thick black foam as

a liner in plastic crate

9 Foam Sheets Thin 2 mm thick White foam:

insert in hands; ventilated

foams as a separate

between cluster/hands

10 Yellow sponge Required

numbers

11 Vacuum sealer / Air remover Eureka/Forbes 2

12 Treatment chemicals like sodium

hypochlorite, Benomyl/

carbendazim

15 kg each

13 Ethylene absorber 2 per bag 2000 sockets

14 Rubber bands

15 Colour tags

16 Stickers

17 Scissors

18 Finger remover 10 nos

19 Hand Callipers 2 nos

20 Shoulder Padding materials Enough quantity

21 Cold storage unit 10 tons 3 nos

22 Reefer van 20-40 MT capacity One

Annexure - III

Nendran Banana specifications and packaging

Per pack:

6 big hands

No. of fingers : 48-55 per box

11-12 kg / box

Harvest age from planting: 10-11 weeks

Vacuum packed in 0.001 mic. Plastic bag

2 stickers per hand

Boxed in U-type export quality carton

Pre cooling and cold storage: 13.5 C and 80-85% RH

1540 boxes per refrigerated 40” high-cube van

Non palletized/ palletized

Ripening at 18-24 ºC, ethylene exposure: 100 ppm for 24 hrs

Ventilation and cold storage

Annexure – V

MoU signed with the APEDA for the Development of Sea Shipment Protocol for Nendran

Dr. S. Uma, Director, ICAR-NRCB & Mr. R. Ravindra, Dy. General Manager, APEDA at

the pack house facility of Fair Exports Pvt Ltd

Banana stuffed Reefer container ready for voyage

Post Harvest handling and packing under the supervision of the ICAR-NRCB Scientists

Team of scientists and officials with the refrigerated reefer container ready for voyage

ICAR-NRCB scientists and the Fair Exports officials with the banana consignment at LuLu

facility, Dubai

Nendran Banana sailed from the Cochin Port, India and received after 12 days at the

Dubai Port

ICAR-NRCB Scientists (Drs. R. Thangavelu and K.N. Shiva ) with Mr. M.A. Salim,

Director and officials of LuLu Group International with the ripened Nendran bananas

at Dubai

Ripened Nendran Banana in display at LuLu Hyper Mall, Dubai